There’s a Blackberry Storm Brewing

I test drove the Storm myself yesterday, twice.

First impression was awesome. I was ready to buy. I left the store and started reading reviews online. Those reviews caused me to head back to the store for a second look.

What I found? For starters, while it was initially reported that this would be the first Blackberry that could send and receive e-mail while using the phone, I was unable to get this to work in the Verizon store. Doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t be done, just means the sales guys couldn’t figure out how to do it. Second, I found the keyboard a bit cumbersome after banging on it for a while. There are some great features here, but this really moves the device out of the core Blackberry user’s wheelhouse and more into the arena of the iPhone (trendy but not necessarily highly functional for power users).

I think I’m holding off for a while before considering, even though it would only cost $100.